Treatment of tannery wastewater is problematic due to high and variable concentrations of complex pollutants often combined with high salinity levels. Two series of horizontal subsurface flow constructed wetlands (CWs) planted with Arundo donax and Sarcocornia fruticosa were set up after a conventional biological treatment system operating at a tannery site. The aim of the CWs was polishing org...

There is a need for a simplified computer-based design tool for subsurface flow constructed wetlands (CWs) which is based on process-based numerical models. Parameters of existing design guidelines and rules have been derived from experiments under specific conditions. Therefore designing CWs using these parameters is limited to these conditions (i.e., temperature, wastewater composition, filte...

Pathways of ammonium (NH4 (+)) removal were investigated using the stable isotope approach in constructed wetlands (CWs). We investigated and compared several types of CWs: planted horizontal subsurface flow (HSSF), unplanted HSSF, and floating plant root mat (FPRM), including spatial and seasonal variations. Plant presence was the key factor influencing efficiency of NH4 (+) removal in all CWs...

Many regulatory authorities set water quality objectives or thresholds based on nutrient concentrations to safeguard aquatic ecosystem health. But do these criteria adequately assess the biological and ecological status? Our research has been focussing on the performance of constructed wetlands for water quality improvement and ecosystem health. In this paper we present data on macroinvertebrat...

This paper presents the Constructed Wetland Model No1 (CWM1), a general model to describe biochemical transformation and degradation processes for organic matter, nitrogen and sulphur in subsurface flow constructed wetlands. The main objective of CWM1 is to predict effluent concentrations from constructed wetlands without predicting gaseous emissions. CWM1 describes aerobic, anoxic and anaerobi...

Constructed wetlands are promising engineering technique that reproduce the conditions of the natural wetlands [1]. They have high water treatment capacity because of the intensive “work” of the plants and the microorganisms. Depending on the conditions various types of plants are growing: common reed (Phragmites australis), rush (Typha latifolia), iris, etc. (Fig. 1). These plants are stable t...

Constructed wetlands hold considerable promise for providing water quality and wildlife habitat benefits. At the same time, constructed wetlands have been described as “mosquito-friendly habitats” and may raise potential conflicts with neighboring human populations. Conflicts arise because some design features, such as shallow water and emergent vegetation that are essential for optimizing wate...

Constructed wetlands positioned in the landscape between row crop agriculture and surface waters can be used to intercept tile drainage and serve as agricultural waste water detention basins. A potential exit pathway in constructed wetlands for detained water and possibly NO3 -N is via seepage through and under an earthen berm. The objective of this study was to determine if seepage was an impo...

background: selection of different wastewater treatment methods depends on the kind of wastewater, geographical position of the community, quantity and quality of wastewater and effluent, technology and finance. natural wastewater treatment methods are simple, cheap and acceptable for developing countries specially small and remote countries and wetland is one of these methods. wetlands include...